1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a piezoelectric/electrostrictive device comprising a ceramic substrate having a pair of mutually opposing thin plate sections, a fixed section for supporting the thin plate sections, and movable sections disposed at ends of the pair of thin plate sections.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the present art a piezoelectric/electrostrictive device such as an actuator element or a sensor element, which uses a piezoelectric/electrostrictive layer, is produced as follows. A wiring pattern made of one electrode layer is formed on a ceramic substrate by printing, for example. A piezoelectric/electrostrictive layer is further formed thereon by printing, followed by sintering to fix the layer After that, a wiring pattern made of another electrode layer is formed (see, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2001-320 103).
The piezoelectric/electrostrictive device can be used as an actuator element in which an electric field is applied to the piezoelectric/electrostrictive layer by supplying an electric signal to the wiring pattern so that the piezoelectric/electrostrictive layer is consequently displaced. The device can be also used as a sensor element in which an electric signal generated depending on the pressure applied to the piezoelectric/electrostrictive layer is outputted from the wiring pattern.